Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Call to boycott electronic meters

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 25. The CPI (M) district secretary, M. Vijayakumar, has called for a boycott of the electronic meters to be installed by the KSEB for measuring domestic power consumption.

In a statement here today, he demanded that the KSEB do away with the system of electronic meters. All consumers who had installed electronic meters in their households had to pay at least 50 per cent more than their previous bill amount for power consumption, he said.

There had been lot of complaints from consumers that the meters had not been tested anywhere and that they record power consumption much above the actual usage level. Till the KSEB was able to explain and resolve these issues raised by consumers, they should stop installing the new meters, he demanded.

The CPI(M) leader alleged that instead of making the purchase of electronic meters from public sector firms, the Board had gone ahead with the purchase from a private firm in Kollam without even undertaking proper quality tests.

The AIYF, the youth wing of the CPI, too demanded that the "anomalies" in the electronic meters be rectified before the Board went ahead and installed these.

In a statement here, the AIYF State president, P.S. Supal, MLA, and the secretary, V.S. Sunil Kumar, said that there was large-scale corruption in the Board's purchase of electronic meters from a private firm. The statement warned of agitation if the KSEB did not review its decision to go ahead with the installation of electronic meters.

The Thiruvananthapuram District Upabhokthru Samithy also demanded that the Board desist from making the electronic meters compulsory. According to its general secretary, D. Venugopal, the system of electronic metering was quite unscientific.

The Board was fooling consumers by promising that the power tariff would not be hiked, while at the same time insisting on electronic meters, it said.

The samithy, which adopted a resolution against the installation of electronic meters, submitted it to the Chief Minister, the Electricity Minister and the KSEB.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• One gets life-term in murder case
• Call to boycott electronic meters
• Call to streamline rescue operations at sea
• Harassment charge: official suspended
• Around the City
• In Thiruvananthapuram Today
• When speeding kills...

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu